Insights Security & Privacy
Your Android phone may link your number to every Google account
The short version
Android phones now verify your SIM number automatically and add it to every Google account signed in on the phone, including work and secondary ones. You can switch this off in settings, but numbers already linked stay until you remove them.
What happened
Google's help page says the setting is on by default, a change made in 2025. When you set up a phone, Google verifies the number and adds it to all accounts on the device, current and future. Insert a new SIM card and its number is added too. Many people only noticed when emails arrived saying their number had been verified.
Google says the link supports account recovery, finding a lost phone, Quick Share and RCS, a richer kind of text messaging. It also says it does not sell personal data, including phone numbers.
Some users report the setting switching itself back on. Android Authority could not repeat it.
Why it matters to you
If you keep a personal, a business and a private account apart on purpose, a shared number gives Google another way to connect them. The number does not become public, but the separation you intended is weaker.
Turning it off has a cost. Kaspersky says Messages then falls back to SMS instead of RCS, and the number can't be used for quick account recovery.
What to do
On the phone, open Settings, then Google (or Google services and preferences), then All services. Under Privacy & security, choose Phone number verification and turn off Verify phone numbers automatically. Check it again later.
Then go to myaccount.google.com, pick each account, and open Personal info, then Phone, to remove the number. Before removing it, make sure you have another working way to sign in and recover the account.
Sources
- Google is quietly linking your phone number to other Android accounts Engadget (opens in a new tab)
- Manage phone number verification on your device Google Android Help (primary source) (opens in a new tab)
- PSA: Google is silently linking your phone number across all signed-in accounts Android Authority (opens in a new tab)
- Google may add your number to all your accounts: How to stop it Malwarebytes (opens in a new tab)
Researched and written by our automated news system.
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